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Home › Articles › Emotional and Mental Health › Don't Rain on My Parade

Don't Rain on My Parade

Feeling Fabulous During Pregnancy

By Shannon McKelden

Pages:  1  2  3  4  

Another way to bring out the best in your pregnancy is to pamper yourself. Jackie Keller, a licensed wellness coach and author of Body After Baby: A Simple, Healthy Plan to Lose Your Baby Weight Fast (Avery/Penguin, 2007), offers a few different ways to really take care of you while you're pregnant:

  • Schedule your favorite "pampering" session each week in advance, like a massage or pedicure.
  • Allow yourself one chocolate indulgence daily – a small piece of dark chocolate goes a long way!
  • Keep a journal and identify three good things about each day that have happened. Focusing on the best part of your day, on a daily basis, can really help!

Woodruff found pampering herself to be invaluable. "A particularly nice (and necessary!) activity was a sitz bath first thing in the morning after about six months," she says. "By then my belly was big enough that I slept on one side most of the night and my hips really hurt when I got up. But a nice hot sitz bath with Epsom salts and sometimes lavender or tea tree essential oil drops softened my hips so I could actually move without groaning."

Lastly, just remembering what this 9-month period is all about can help. "Keep your eye on the prize – on your goal of having a healthy baby and a fabulous pregnancy!" Swinney says.

Pregnancy Positives

Focusing on fun and humor during the long nine months until your baby arrives can make the time go faster and help you forget about all the little inconveniences.

"Think of all the positives of pregnancy," says Bridget Swinney, who shares these examples from her book, Eating Expectantly (Meadowbrook Press, 2000):

  • You have a friend living close by that shares in your every move.
  • Thick, shiny hair.
  • Your doctor tells you that you should gain weight.
  • Finally, a bigger bra size!
  • People open the door for you and give up their seat for you.
  • You don't have to tuck your blouses in.
  • You're the designated driver for the next 9 months – your friends love you for it!
  • You're about to become a lifetime member in "Club Mom."
  • You are part of a miracle!


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